


Princes and Frogs

by angledust



Category: The Loved Ones (2009)
Genre: F/M, Yuletide 2011
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-16
Updated: 2011-12-16
Packaged: 2017-10-27 10:34:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/294848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angledust/pseuds/angledust
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"How many romantic movies had she seen where the heroine ended up with her best friend, the man who was always there for her?"<br/>Warning: Mentions of violence, harm to children and incest.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Princes and Frogs

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kattahj](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kattahj/gifts).



Once she woke she couldn’t stay in bed, not that morning. Lola sat cross-legged on the carpet, looking through her scrapbook, and waited for dawn. Her book was always a pick me up when she was feeling down about school or whatever, but today she wasn’t unhappy. Today she could look at the pictures of her boys fondly. Today she could forgive them. Today was the day her life began.

She turned the page and stroked a finger down little Keir’s face. He was the one she could barely remember. His page was a childish mess of colour and glitter; she only had that one proper picture of him, sitting next to her, the good fairy, the others were torn out of various newspapers. He had teased her at school, and then made the mistake of following her home to do the same thing. She didn’t even think daddy had meant to kill him really, they were just going to teach him a lesson. They hadn’t got to keep him like the others, but he had stuck around, at the bottom of the garden.

Lola slid forward onto her stomach, getting a closer look at the photograph. He didn’t look much like a prince. Just a horrible scabby little boy. What he would look like now? He would come up cold next to Brent of course.

She had to flick to the back of the book then, just to take a look, and her heart leapt at the sight of him. Brent’s would be the last entry, and his would stay as it was now. He deserved the hearts and the glitter. He was different, the one, she knew it. She had learnt her lesson after the last time. Sure the others had hurt her and let her down. But that was in the past now. It was only by going through all that pain, that she could see how right for her Brent was. She had grown up along with her boys, and now, she was ready. No more show-offs, no more loudmouths. Blaine was quiet, sweet, mature. Perfect. The prince she had always wanted. She closed the book, placing it against her heart and jumped to her feet, unable to stand the waiting anymore. Through the chink in the curtains she could see the sun rising, pink and blue mixing in the sky.  


…

She was finishing her cereal when she heard Daddy upstairs. She could hear him moving from room to room. Probably washing Bright Eyes, she thought, and grimaced, spoon stopping half-way to her mouth. He was too patient with the old bat. She could do most of that stuff herself, if he didn’t pander to her all the time. After all she had to, when Daddy went away and it was just Mummy and Lola.  


Lola ate slowly, so she was still sitting at the table when they came downstairs. She didn’t raise her eyes from the bowl as her father sat Bright Eyes down across from her. “Up early darling?”  


She couldn’t hold back a smile. She looked up at him and said, “Today’s the day Daddy.”  


“Who’s the lucky man?”  


It wasn’t as if he didn’t know, she had been scribbling Brent’s name on any piece of paper within reach for months, but they always danced around her crushes like this. “Brent Williams. How do I look?” She stood up and twirled. She had her hair loose and had picked out some casual clothes, a pink t-shirt and jean cut-offs, nothing special. That was the kind of look Brent liked, toned down. Well she could do that; she could wear whatever he liked if it meant she would get her prince.  


“He’d be a fool to turn you down.”  


She scowled and sat down, not looking at her father. Of course he didn’t think Brent would say yes. They never did. But Brent was different. Sensitive. And was it so hard to believe that a man could love her? She was just as pretty as the other girls. Across the table her mother sat staring at her with bright, dead, eyes. Lola stared back. You couldn’t really win in a staring competition with Bright Eyes, but it was fun to try.  


“Come on Princess, you know I didn’t mean…” her father trailed off with a sigh. “Why don’t you give the boys their breakfast, since you won’t be here to see them tonight.”  


As an apology it wasn’t convincing, but seeing the boys always did make her feel better. She strolled over to the fridge. There were yesterday’s pickings in there, a cat, most of it at least. Her father looked back at her cheerfully, already heading over to open the doors. Bright Eyes watched the floor move up and Lola gave her a little, ‘when I get my chance you’re going down there,' look as she passed.  


They took a minute to mass in the floor below. Then they stood there looking up and waiting with the little patience they had. They had changed over the years, the three of them, but they still looked the same to her. There was Dylan, the first boy to turn her down, and he was the one who asked her in the first place. That kid was bad to the bone, always in trouble for some thing or other. She was an innocent little girl, head full of fairytales and she had come home and cried her eyes out. She remembered the tautness of his hair between her fingers, the smell of his blood and sweat filling the room. Daddy had let her watch as he drilled him. That was right after Mummy had to have the same operation. One day after school she was just changed. No more arguing with Daddy, no more much of anything at all for Mummy. Her daddy probably hoped Dylan would make her feel better about that, and you know, he had. Dylan had been so troubled before, shouting and telling lies about her, and then afterwards, nothing. He was peaceful. And now, look how happy a dead cat could make him, licking his lips, looking expectantly up at her.  


She raised the animal above her head and threw. It hit him smack in the head and she leapt in the air and whooped for joy. Turning she grinned at her daddy, who shook his head, but with the slightest hint of a smile. Today she could get away with anything.  


…  


Lola had expected to run into Brent at some time that day, just the two of them and for everything to be simple and easy. For some reason she had never considered that it might not be. It was her last class of the day before she realised it probably wasn’t a good idea to rely on that. She hadn’t seen him all day, wasn’t even sure if he was in school. But now there he was, by the lockers.  


He was perfect.  


Soft dark hair down to his chin, warm brown eyes, strong arms, a smile like a sunrise.  


He was everything she had ever wanted.  


She hadn’t really noticed him before the accident. But afterwards she saw him everywhere. The crash had been the same night Timmy ran away and Daddy and her had been worried, enough for her to have snuck into the hospital to check up on Brent. She had seen him lying there, all vulnerable and broken, and she liked what she saw. Since that day her thoughts had never been far from him. When he came back to school they seemed to run into each other everywhere. There was something between them, something charged, in every look and every word that passed between them. She knew he felt it too. He was changed. Maybe it was the accident itself, it had altered something in him, made him better able to understand her pain. Luck, fate, whatever it was, everything was pointing to him as the one. In the end all she had to do to find her prince was to lose a frog.  


She waited by the lockers until he was alone, until he turned to go before she stepped forward. He looked at her and she froze. Now that they were face to face she struggled to make the long rehearsed words come out. Her heart beat out her chest. It had never been this hard before. She decided to cut to the chase. “Will you go to the dance with me?”  


He hesitated for a second. “Sorry Lola, I’m going with Holly.”  


She opened her mouth to say something else, but he was already walking away. His girlfriend? What kind of excuse was that? She had never thought the other girl might be a problem. He hardly spent any time with her. Where was she now?  


She held back from following him. She didn’t know what she wanted to do. Hurt him. Cry. How could he do this to her? How dare he?  


The truth was there, sickeningly clear. He had misled her, acted decent. Every look that passed between them had been a lie. He had been laughing at her behind her back this whole time. She was left standing there, grinding her nails into her palms.  


Lola forced herself to walk forwards, towards the door. It was lucky the hallway was empty because she couldn’t control the expression on her face. She stood and watched him get into a car with that girl, what was her name, Holly? Well she could have him. The fucking liar. Why hadn’t she seen that he was just like all the others? As the car pulled out of the parking lot all the anger drained out of her as quickly as it had come. She had to put a hand out to support herself on the door frame. Suddenly she felt very small, exposed, a blip in the world. She looked for her daddy’s truck and as soon as she saw it she started half-running, half-walking across the lot to it. Who cared who saw her? It didn’t matter now. She couldn’t see more than two steps ahead of her anymore, the tears brimming in her eyes.  


Her daddy leaned over and opened the door as she reached it. The expression on his face told him he knew, she didn’t have to say anything.  
He held her, pulled her close so she was sitting in his lap. “There, there, it’s alright darling.” He stroked her hair.  


“I was wrong… he’s just a liar,” she gasped out, her voice sounding strangely unlike her own.  


“I know, I know.”  


As the anger and sadness gradually drained out of her she felt something she was shocked she had missed before, relief. Brent wasn’t a prince. He was a spoilt selfish boy who wallowed in his own misery. A no-hoper who spent his time smoking and drinking and treated his girlfriend and family like crap. He wasn’t even that good looking. How could she have ever thought he was so perfect, so right for her? Thank God he had said no. The thought that she could have left home with him sent a chill down her spine.  
It was crystal clear now, why she had waited so long to ask him. She was never afraid that he would say no, only that he would say yes. She had been so sure that all the other frogs had pointed her to Brent, but all of them were only a smoke screen masking her true feelings. There was only one person in her life that understood her, that loved her and would do anything for her. Only one who really mattered.  


“Better darling?” he asked.  


“Much better.” Lola smiled and climbed off her father’s lap onto the passenger seat, letting her hand linger on his thigh. How many romantic movies had she seen where the heroine ended up with her best friend, the man who was always there for her, and yet it had never occurred to her before?  


He started up the car and she wiped her eyes.  


“Three-tree drive?”  


To her surprise she found that she didn’t really care about Brent turning her down anymore. She felt calm, content in a way she had never really felt before. Now that she wasn’t waiting for a prince, he wasn’t important. But then she remembered the moment he had turned away from her, with that little smile, as if she were nothing. He deserved it, just as much as the others. And it would be fun. She wanted to hurt him now more than she had ever wanted to touch him. Sunshine came flooding its way through the tears and she smiled. Her daddy wanted to do this for her, what other man would ever do anything like this for her? “Let’s go Daddy.”


End file.
